Charity

Charity

Title

Charity

[The National Gallery, revised 2011]

Painting on beech wood

Medium

Painting on beech wood

[The National Gallery, revised 2011]
[Klein report 1993]

A mother is shown standing with her three children. She clasps the forearm of a girl in her right hand while a smaller boy clings to her left leg and she suckles a baby (of indeterminate sex) at her left breast. All the figures are represented naked, but the mother

A mother is shown standing with her three children. She clasps the forearm of a girl in her right hand while a smaller boy clings to her left leg and she suckles a baby (of indeterminate sex) at her left breast. All the figures are represented naked, but the mother has a transparent veil which extends over her forehead and from behind her neck over both shoulders, part wrapping around the arm holding the child in the form of a sling, and part extending over the front of her body and right leg. She also wears two necklaces, a choker with a stone around her neck and a gold chain with large links over her shoulders. Her hair is fair and is bound with a black band. The hair of her daughter (and of the other two infants) is also fair. In an echo of her mother¿s pose, the small girl carries a female doll in her right arm, dressed in a long square-necked dress with a white high-necked blouse underneath. The doll¿s hair is also held back with a black band. The figures stand on stony brown ground against a black background, both of which consist largely of overpaint. Although it is reasonable to assume that this repainting follows the original, this cannot be proven to be the case. However, many other paintings by Cranach of such subjects include similar dark backgrounds, for instance classical subjects such as Hercules or Venus and Cupid.

[Susan Foister, `Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800']

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[The National Gallery, revised 2011]

Production date
about 1535 - 1545

Production date

about 1535 - 1545

[The National Gallery, revised 2016]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 56.4 x 35.9 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 56.4 x 35.9 cm

  • [The National Gallery, revised 2011]

  • Dimensions of support: 56.3 x 36.2 cm

  • [http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity/*/key-facts; accessed: 05.09.2011]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the bottom left: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing right; in yellow paint (but has been altered)

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the bottom left: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing right; in yellow paint (but has been altered)

  • [The National Gallery, London, revised 2016]

Inscriptions and Labels
  • top left: 'CHARITAS.' (the inscription is overpainted)
    [The National Gallery, revised 2016] On the reverse of the panel …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • top left:

  • 'CHARITAS.' (the inscription is overpainted)

  • [The National Gallery, revised 2016]

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • On the reverse of the panel are various inscriptions:

    • there is a 'V' in black paint
    • inscriptions in ink, including what may be a date, '1 5/8¿9', with (above) a word beginning with K and ending in ch.

  • [Susan Foister, `Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800']

  • www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

Owner
The National Gallery, London
Repository
The National Gallery, London
Location
London
CDA ID
UK_NGL_2925
FR (1978) Nr.
FR405
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/UK_NGL_2925/

Provenance

  • owned by Sir George Webbe Dasent (1817-96, a civil servant and Scandinavian scholar)
  • given by him to George Howard 12th Earl of Carlisle (1843-1911, an artist and a Trustee of the National Gallery from 1881 until his death) [1]
  • the picture was hanging at Naworth Castle in 1893-5.[2]
  • the picture was presented in 1913 by Rosalind Countess of Carlisle (1845-1921, a campaigner for women's suffrage and for the temperance movement).[3]

[1] The Earl and his wife were important patrons of the Arts and Crafts movement, commissioning the architect Philip Webb as well as interior decorations by William Morris, Walter Crane, and Edward Burne-Jones. See Christopher Ridgway, Howard, George James, ninth earl of Carlisle (1843-1911), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34019], accessed 12 Nov 2013. [2] It is listed as no. 129 'given to G Howard by Sir George Dasent' in a handwritten inventory at Castle Howard (H2/1/43: Pictures at Naworth as hung 1893-1895), published in Hawkesbury 1904. I am most grateful to Jeanne Nuechterlein for this information which she presented at the conference 'Primitive Renaissances': Northern European and Germanic Art at the Fin de Siècle to the 1930s, held at the National Gallery in spring 2014, and will publish in the forthcoming conference proceedings. [3]National Gallery Archive: National Gallery Minutes of Board Meetings: 11th June 1912: The Director reported that Lady Carlisle had expressed a wish to present to the Gallery in memory of the late Earl, some pictures from Castle Howard, and that she wanted as many Trustees as possible to visit the Castle; 6th May 1913: The Director delivered message from Lady Carlisle to the effect that, having compared the preferences of each Trustee who had been able to give their opinion, she now offered four pictures to the Gallery: Carracci, The Three Maries', Rubens, A Landscape', Gainsborough, Mrs Graham', and Del Mazo, Queen Mariana'. She was also prepared to substitute for any of the above the Portrait of Gaston de Foix, attributed to Giorgione, or the Portrait of Descartes by Mignard. Lady Carlisle also offered to present Caritas' by Cranach, should they care to accept it. It was resolved to write expressing the deep gratitude of the Board;
History File - NG7/424/1913: Draft, undated, of letter to Lady Carlisle thanking her for the gift, mentioning also the Cranach; National Gallery Letter Book: Letter dated 8th May 1913 to Lady Carlisle reporting that her offer had been laid before the Board; S800 Gifts Countess of Carlisle [2923-9, 2698, 2968] 1918-1921 [Director]; Contains correspondence regarding her will, in the light of the gift of 1913.
[Susan Foister, 'Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800']
www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

Exhibitions

London 1994
London 1997

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. London 1997
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleCranach. A Closer Look [National Gallery, London, 18.06-07.09.1997]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1997
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. London 1994
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleThemes and Variations - Ideas Personified [National Gallery, London, 28.09- 04.12.1994]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1994
Show Literature
NGL 1994
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleThemes and Variations - Ideas Personified, [National Gallery, London, 28th September - 4th December 1994]
Year of Publication1994
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 152 405 Fig. 405
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Cat. London 1959 21
AuthorMichael Levey
TitleNational Gallery Catalogues. The German School
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1959
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 325
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1932
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

For further discussion of this painting see:

[Susan Foister, ‘Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800']

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

Cranach listed two paintings with the subject of Charity in the account of his work made at Augsburg in 1552, but neither of these can be identical with the National Gallery picture as they are described as being on canvas.[1] While little of the original background or foreground of this painting appears to remain intact, the figures have been retouched and the flesh paint is rubbed, the quality of the faces in particular is high, the hair is delicately depicted (although some of the girl's hair extends over the repainted background and is not original), and the expressions are particularly tender and affectionate. The painting has rightly been accepted as the work of Lucas Cranach the Elder, despite its condition.

[1] [Schuchardt 1851, 207–8]; the painting listed on p. 207 is described as ‘ein tuch’, i.e. a painting on canvas or linen cloth; the other is part of a list of ‘tücher’. [Heydenreich 2007 A, 451] (ThHstAW, Ernestinisches Gesamtarchive, Reg. As 2975, fols 18r and 19r).

[Susan Foister, ‘Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800']

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

  • Charity, about 1535 - 1545

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • reverse
  • irr
  • irr
  • x_radiograph
  • x_radiograph

Documents

Technical studies

2016Technical examination / Scientific analysis

Support

The support consists of a wood panel made from two vertically grained beechwood boards.[1] The join is not quite vertical, the left-hand board measuring 5.7 cm at the top (verso) and 7.0 cm at the bottom (verso). The join is reinforced with a fibrous substance, and an area to the right at the bottom has been removed, thinning the panel. A rebate approximately 1.0 cm wide and 0.5 cm deep has been cut around all four sides.

According to the dendrochronological analysis, board I has 145 growth rings dating from 1533–1379; no dating could be obtained for the 21 growth rings of board II. Since only the bark was removed from beechwood and the whole tree trunk used, the earliest felling date for the wood of board I is 1533; with one year’s storage time a creation date for the painting of 1534 onwards is plausible

[1] Confirmed as beechwood in a report of 19 November 1993 by Dr Peter Klein in NG dossier.

Underdrawing

Infrared reflectography revealed little underdrawing and there was no penetration of the background paint. In most places simple linear outlining in the surface paint masks any possible underdrawing. Dark lines under the surface paint, for instance in the faces, were presumably intended to be visible. With the aid of the stereomicroscope it was possible to see red outlines along the right-hand edges of the girl’s legs, in the right side of Charity’s right thigh, in between the tops of her legs and on the left-hand sides of her calves, as well as on both outside edges of the standing leg of the boy. There may be pentiments along the back of the child on the right and on the girl’s leg.

Paint Layers and Gilding

The medium was identified by GC analysis as linseed oil.

[Susan Foister, ‘Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800’]

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

11. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • X-radiography
  • x_radiograph
  • x_radiograph

11. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr
  • irr

DESCRIPTION

An underdrawing is not readily visible. some isolated red lines are visible under the stereomicroscope, which suggests that red chalk may have been use to fix the initial design.

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2016]

19.11.1993Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

Identification of wood species: beech wood

youngest annual ring: 1533

[Klein Report, 19.11.1993]

  • analysed by Peter Klein

30.10.1957Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • UV light photography

Detail of back, ultra-violet, showing the inscription

  • photographed by The National Gallery, London

09. 1946Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • X-radiography

X-ray of the head of the figure of Charity

  • created by The National Gallery, London
  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections
  • Instrumental material analysis

Media analysis:

The medium was identified by GC analysis as linseed oil.

[Susan Foister, ‘Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800’]

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

  • X-radiography
  • x_radiograph

Condition Reports

Date2016

The painting is not in good condition:

Support:

The two corners on the right (verso) of the panel have been replaced. A mended split extends 14.0 cm into the painting from the top edge and 14.0 cm from the left (verso). There is extensive worm damage, particularly in the right half of the panel, extending to the added corners.

Paint layers:

The entire background, including the stony ground, is overpainted and the flesh paint has been extensively retouched; some of the overpainting of the background appears milky and some has wrinkled badly. There is a splash of blue paint halfway up the left edge which is clearly not original. There have been some paint losses along the split and there are a number of scratches and cracks. The retouching of the flesh paint, which appears to be very worn, is evident in numerous places, for instance in the baby¿s hand and legs, and in Charity's knees. The inscription 'Charitas' has been repainted and the winged serpent signature has been altered.

[Susan Foister, 'Lucas Cranach the Elder, Charity' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800']

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-charity

Conservation History

Date03. 1946

  • varnished

[National Gallery archive, 2013]

Date1913

  • cleaned and varnished

[National Gallery archive, 2013]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Charity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/UK_NGL_2925/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Charity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/UK_NGL_2925/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

Help us to improve the Cranach Digital Archive.

Please contact us, if you have noticed a mistake.